York Bridge Needs Paint: Inspectors

State bridge inspectors have been warning for years that the George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge between Gloucester Point and Yorktown is deteriorating because of a poor paint job.

The Virginia Department of Transportation, which has repainted some parts of the span in the last six years, does not have any plans to paint the entire structure as inspectors recommend because it is short of cash, one official said.

The bridge was repainted in 1983, but it was done poorly, inspectors said. By the next year, officials were already recommending that spots be repainted because of rust and by 1986 they were requesting that the whole span be redone.

It's more than a matter of appearance. The deteriorating paint is allowing the steel superstructure to rust, weakening it, the inspectors said.

The paint job - estimated in 1986 to cost $20 million - is among a group of repairs that must be addressed to ensure the safety of the 37-year-old span, which carries 39,000 vehicles a day between the Peninsula and Middle Peninsula, according to state inspection records.

In each of the reports done by the state, the bridge was said to be in "fair condition."

Without better care, the life of the bridge, designed to last at least until the year 2002, will be cut short and any plans the state may have to widen it to keep up with increasing traffic could be dashed, some officials said.

York County officials, who had asked to review the inspection reports, say the transportation department needs to do more to maintain the span, and may have to consider prohibiting some heavy trucks from crossing it.

Despite the need for repairs, state and local officials agree the span is safe to cross. The problems, some said, would become more severe if they are not addressed now.

"We need to point out to the state in no uncertain terms that (they shouldn't) play the game of saying `Let's widen the bridge.' They have to fix it first," Fisher said.

"Only the squeaky wheel gets the grease," he continued, "and we ought to make this a squeaky wheel."

Jim Funk, chairman of the York supervisors, said he'll recommend that his board use an upcoming road hearing before state officials to ask that money be allocated to fix the bridge.

"I think the question is why wasn't it done sooner," he said.

In six separate reports between 1982 and December, state inspectors repeatedly point out that the paint on the bridge needs to be sandblasted off and the whole span repainted.

The problem, inspectors and state officials say, is that the bottom layers of paint contain lead. To sandblast it off would require an elaborate, expensive system that would prevent the lead from getting into the air around traveling cars or into the York River, where it could harm marine life, according to David E. Pierce, structure and bridge engineer in the transportation department's Suffolk District.

The work would surely cost more than the $20 million esti mated three years ago, officials said.

Besides the money, there's also the question of what to do with the traffic while the work is being done. With the heavy daily use, lines of cars will grow even longer if one of the two lanes has to be closed.

Among other problems cited in the reports are that one of three drives that open the bridge for passing ships is continuously breaking. The reports show that it is routinely repaired or replaced, but continues to break down.

Officials are not sure what is causing the problem, according to Charles E. Morris, assistant district engineer with the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Administration, which handles day-to-day maintenance and mechanical operations on the span.

The bridge can operate on just two drives, but not on one.

"We'd want no less than two, and we're not comfortable looking at two," Morris said.

"As you continue in age," Morris said, "machines continue to have problems. It's no different than your car or your body."

Another problem is that several support brackets have broken over the years. In 1986, three brackets were broken. Two years later, that had increased to seven. The metal brackets are not vital to the bridge's strength, but their breaking may indicate larger problems with vibrations, possibly from oversized loads crossing the span, York's Fisher said.

Funk, the York supervisor, said he has talked with Gloucester officials about the possibility of putting truck scales in the county to deter larger loads from using the bridge.

One sidelight of York's concern over the bridge's maintenance is that it bolsters the argument of officials in that county and elsewhere that the second crossing built across the York River should not be built at the Coleman bridge.